The College Days
by Peace Love Twilight538
Summary: AH Bella Swan is starting college at USC and finds herself rooming with the bubbly and perky Alice Cullen. But what will happen when she meets her brother, the one and only Edward Cullen: hot, intelligent and perfect? Normal pairings: ExB, AxJ, EmxR
1. New Beginnings

_Chapter 1- NEW BEGINNINGS_

The bone-chilling wind whipped drenched locks of my hair across my face as I raced across the slippery sidewalk up to a massive white building. Stillness engulfed me as the door closed quickly behind me and my hair dripped onto the blue carpet. My galoshes squeaked slightly as I trudged over to the lady behind the reception desk.

"Welcome," she told me sweetly before her eyes swept over my damp appearance with a slight look of disapproval. She quickly regained her fake enthusiasm "What can I do for you?"

"My name is Bella Swan and I'm a new student here." I bit my lip hoping that I wouldn't have to explain much to her. I was dripping wet and completely embarrassed by my messy appearance.

"Ah, I see," she walked over to a filing cabinet and sifted through hundreds of identical manila folders until she selected one from the middle of the stack. "Here is your schedule, school information booklet and your dorm assignment." She then handed me a small bronze key attached to a plastic, red tag that read: 206.

The woman, whose name nameplate said: Mrs. Green, smiled widely at me then turned her attention back to her computer. I walked slowly over to the elevator and pressed the tiny, round button as I skimmed through the paperwork that she had given me. I pulled out the thick information booklet where the letters: _USC_ were printed in big, bold font across the front. My eyes roamed over the pictures and the small, boring font that filled every page.

_Ding_. I stepped through the elevator and watch the metal doors close behind me. I pressed the illuminated button that had a "2" on it and looked over my dorm assignments. The paper listed my roommate's name next to mine: Alice Cullen. I sighed, whishing that I was in high school again. My stomach twisted into uncomfortable knots considering what kind of a freaky roommate I might get stuck with for a whole year. Knowing my luck, I would probably be rooming with some creepy Goth or a huge, tough girl that looked like she could be a professional body builder.

The elevator opened and I pushed myself out of it and into a long white hallway. Not watching my feet, I stumbled down the carpeted hallway in front of one of the identical white doors that had the numbers: _206_ engraved in its surface. My shaking hands grasped the key and worked to fit it into the lock and turned it slowly until there was an almost inaudible "click" from the door. I sucked in a quick breath and shut my eyes, then I hesitantly pushed the door open.

The moment I opened my eyes, someone, or something, lunged at me in a quick blur and wrapped a pair of thin arms around my neck. I staggered backwards and my hand caught the doorframe for support, but before I could react any further, it released its hold and stepped away from me in another flash. I blinked twice in utter shock and stared at a small girl that was standing in the room three feet in front of me.

"Oops," she apologized, her beautiful face looking somewhat embarrassed as she took in my shocked and slightly soggy appearance; her icy blue eyes, looking up at me, were 3 or 4 inches below my five feet, five inches and her mouth formed an apologetic half smile. Her dark, black hair framed her pale face and was cropped short and styled into elegant spikes. She extended a small hand toward me, a wide grin spreading across her face, flashing her white teeth: "Hi, my name is Alice Cullen, and you must be my roommate."


	2. Head Over Heels

**Hello reader(s)! Yay, chapter 2 is up! I hope that ppl like this story, it's my first fanfic and im sorry that the chapters are so short (I know that I love it when ppl post long chapters) but it is a lot harder to write than it looks and im still new at this. =} Anyways, PLEASE give me REVIEWS!!! Im so paranoid that no one is reading my story and I just want to know if someone out there is reading and actually liking my story. **

**I've already started the third chapter ( its spring break and I have some free time) so the only way that I will update it is if I have **_**some**_** indication that **_**someone**_** is reading this, or else I don't want to waste my time.**

**Thanks for reading my rambling, now enjoy the second chapter! =)**

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_Previously-_

"_Oops," she apologized, her beautiful face looking somewhat embarrassed as she took in my shocked and slightly soggy appearance; her icy blue eyes, looking up at me, were 3 or 4 inches below my five feet, five inches and her mouth formed an apologetic half smile. Her dark, black hair framed her pale face and was cropped short and styled into elegant spikes. She extended a small hand toward me, a wide grin spreading across her face, flashing her white teeth: "Hi, my name is Alice Cullen, and you must be my roommate."_

_Chapter 2- HEAD OVER HEALS_

"Er . . . h-hi! U-um, I'm Bella Swan," my voice caught in my throat. I know that it's impolite to stare, but I just could not stop gazing at the small, yet devastatingly beautiful, girl that was still smiling at me with enough excitement to be bouncing off of the walls.

"Hi Bella! I just know that we are going to be great friends. Oh, what classes do you have? Maybe we'll be in the same classes together, that would be so cool! I know, we should have a shopping trip this weekend because school doesn't start for another week or so and we could get some new clothes and everything . . . " she continued babbling on about our plans this weekend and what good friends we were going to be, talking so quickly that she never even gave me the chance to respond. Wait . . . did she just say _shopping_? Normally, I didn't really mind shopping, I just didn't find very much excitement in spending all day at a mall, but other than that it was really almost fun. However, the way that Alice gushed about our upcoming shopping trip got me a little worried about what she had planned that day.

I was still standing there, shocked at her immediate attempt at friendship, after meeting her only 2 minutes ago, when I noticed the large, brown objects shoved to one side of the cramped dorm room.

"Did you bring those up there all by yourself?" I gestured to the large boxes of stuff I had sent over from my home in Forks, Washington, they had gotten here faster than I had expected.

"Huh? Oh, your stuff, no my brothers helped me. Oh my gosh! I _have_ to introduce you to them; you'll absolutely love them, plus, they have been waiting to meet you. Oh, and you have to meet my friend Rosalie, she's my best friend in the whole world and she's dating my older brother, which is kind of weird, but you'll get used to it. Oh my gosh, we are going to have so much fun this year!"

I couldn't help but smile at that, her excitement was contagious and now I don't have to worry about having a roommate that will hate me. The hammering of the rain outside of the window lightened and I could see a light mist falling from the clouds, where the sun was starting to peek through. I was used to the familiar rainfall in Forks, but it was almost too ironic that I happened to arrive on the one day of rain here in sunny California. Alice finally seemed to notice my drenched clothes and directed me toward the small bathroom in the far corner of the dorm. I grabbed a beloved pair of jeans and a simple t-shirt and left the room to take a warm shower.

Alice helped my unpack some of the stuff from my boxes and we chatted a little about school and friends and pretty much just made small talk. I learned that she had 2 brothers, Emmett and Edward, and a boyfriend, Jasper, who happened to be her best friend, Rosalie's, brother, who was also dating Alice's brother, Emmett. They came from Portland, Oregon and moved here two years ago. I was really starting to like Alice, usually girls that were so hyper and girly just freaked me out, but Alice was different, she was a fun person and an even better friend.

_Boom, Boom, Boom!_ I gasped and leapt onto my bed. The door shuddered against the strong impact and I wondered if someone was trying to break down the door.

"Al-ice!" someone, obviously a guy from the sound of his voice, whined from the other side of the door, that I was still surprised hadn't broken off of its hinges. Alice rolled her eyes impatiently.

"God Emmett! If you wanted to come in, you could just ask instead of trying to break the door down! You practically scared my new roommate to death!" I felt my face get hot as she mentioned my reaction. It was quite funny, though to see Alice with her hands on her hips, yelling at the door. She twisted the knob and quickly swung the door open.

"Jeez, no need to get all fussy little sis," he joked. I felt my jaw drop as I looked up at Alice's massive older brother. He was huge, not that he was fat or anything, he was tall with serious muscles and short, curly brown hair.

Alice glared up at him with a deadly look in her eyes that said "don't-mess-with-me" and obviously Emmett got the message because he backed off immediately, though he still had a smirk on his face.

I still couldn't believe that someone as tiny and petite as Alice could be related to someone as huge as Emmett, but I had to admit that Alice could be pretty scary when she meant it.

"Hey Alice!" A girl emerged from the hallway and gave Alice a big hug. Just like Alice, the girl was devastatingly beautiful; she had long, silky blond hair and brown eyes that looked like they had a little gold in them.

Another boy with dirty blond hair and the same eye color immediately followed her, although you could see some other similarities in their perfect features. This must have Rosalie and Jasper; Alice had told me that they were brother and sister, fraternal twins, also known as Alice's boyfriend and Emmett's girlfriend.

"Where's Edward?" Alice peered around Emmett and another boy entered our very crowded dorm. He had tussled bronze hair and hazel-green eyes that I couldn't stop staring at. I almost wanted to reach out and touch his perfect face. All that I could think was: _Ho-ly Shit!_

"Everyone I would like you to meet my new roommate, Bella." I realized that I was still seated on my bed and I quickly jumped up.

"Um, hey everyone . . . I'm Bella Swan," I smiled and felt the heat rush to my face again. _Please tell me that my blushing isn't that noticeable_. The girl named Rosalie came up to me and gave me a quick hug.

"Nice to meet you Bella, I'm Rosalie, but Alice probably already told you who I was. This is Emmett, Jasper and Edward," she gestured to everyone and I shook all of their hands. As I shook Edward's hand, he smiled widely at me and I felt my heart skip a beat and I tried to keep my breathing steady. _What am I thinking? Snap out of it!_ I turned my gaze back to Emmett and he laughed when he saw my eyes widen as he gave me a mischievous grin. Rosalie playfully rolled her eyes.

"It's ok, don't be afraid of Emmett, he may look intimidating, but he's nothing but a big teddy bear," with that she punched him playfully on the arm.

"Hey, I am not!" Rosalie was right, he sounded just like a little kid.

"Sorry guys, but I'm going to have to go, I still have to unpack and all," Jasper apologized.

"That's ok, I'll see you guys later, Bella and I are going to finish setting up our new dorm." Everyone waved goodbye and left. Edward smiled at me and despite what my mind was telling me, I couldn't control the butterflies that were attacking my insides. Usually I didn't act like this around guys that I just met, but was it possible that I was feeling this way about Alice's brother?

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**So, how was it? I hope it was up to its expectations. On another note, I went to the beach yesterday and it was soooo much fun, whoever has never been to the beach before has to go, or else you are totally missing out! Sorry for that, anyways DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW OR NO UPDATES =)**

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	3. Crush

**Hey again! Ok, so I finally figured out how to read my reviews (don't laugh at me) after A LOT of searching =} But anyways, you guys were really excited so I just couldn't wait any longer to update. **

*******IMPORTANT: However, I have to warn you guys that the updates are going to start slowing down because I need time to write more chapters and my spring break is only one week long (ugh) and school is gonna start up again, followed by a crap-load of homework for me. So I will definitely update one weekends, but not so much during the week =(**

**And please don't stop reviewing and reading because those will only get me to write and update faster. And don't be afraid to tell me if there is something that you don't like in my story, no matter how small, because there are some things that even I don't like in my story, but sometimes I've just got to suck it up and update for you guys. **

**Anyway, here's the next chapter:**

_Previously- _

"_That's ok, I'll see you guys later, Bella and I are going to finish setting up our new dorm." Everyone waved goodbye and left. Edward smiled at me and despite what my mind was telling me, I couldn't control the butterflies that were attacking my insides. Usually I didn't act like this around guys that I just met, but was it possible that I was feeling this way about Alice's brother?_

_Chapter 3 - CRUSH_

I watched the stream of colors dance in front of my eyes. Everything was quiet, peaceful and weightless like I was floating on air: just easy, simple and perfect. The colors continued to move soothingly around and around until I could see a pair of giant hazel-green eyes staring at me through the haze of colors. I could have stared into them for hours, but I felt them slowly slipping away as consciousness took over mind.

_No!_ I thought and shut my eyes tighter, trying to push myself back into the dream, but with no avail. My brow furrowed and I bit my lip, but I refused to open my eyes and face the disappointment of waking up to my boring dorm room. My mind, however, could not be lulled back to sleep and I gave up staring at the inside of eyelids. My eyes slowly fluttered open, met by a pair of icy, blue ones only inches away from my face.

"Ah!" My eyes shot open, taking in Alice's pixie-like face smiling down at me. It took my brain a few moments to realize that I was instinctively griping the side of my mattress, my chest heaving from the near heart attack she gave me and what probably looked like a crazed expression played across my face.

"Good morning sleepy-head," she smirked, pulling her face farther away from mine.

"Alice . . . what . . . are you . . . doing?" My voice was having trouble forming coherent sentences partly from just waking up and partly from the shock that I was experiencing after my roommate decided that it would be funny to see me almost drop dead from a heart attack.

"Just making sure that you don't sleep the day away. I hope that you haven't forgotten about that little shopping trip that you agreed to last week," ugg, that's right, the shopping trip. It was a little more than a week ago that I had first arrived here and met Alice, my bubbly, yet slightly energetic roommate and best friend and all of her brothers and other friends. If I had known then what Rosalie had told me about Alice's shopping addiction, I would have never agreed to this.

"Are you _insane_? It's 6 am! Let me sleep!" I pulled the covers over my head and shut my eyes, trying to block her out.

"Bella, please, we only have one hour before we have to meet everyone at the coffee shop and you have to get ready!" This was a tradition that we had established in our first week at USC. School didn't start up until Monday, which gave us plenty of time to hang out. Of course Alice always insisted on looking our best even if it was just meeting our friends for some coffee. But this time I would not give in to her ridiculous requests.

"Alice," I hissed at her "It is a Saturday and I am _not_ going to wake up at 6 am just so that I can spend the next twelve-plus hours shopping." I spoke slowly and with a hint of sarcasm, hoping that she got my message loud and clear.

In the end, I only got another 30 minutes to sleep in and Alice got 30 minutes to make me look "beautiful." She almost always got her way on these things. I had put up a pretty good argument with her until she mentioned Edward's name. She had started pitching the idea of getting us together from day one and I must say that I was not completely opposed to it. I kept telling myself not to get too hopeful because I just couldn't imagine someone like Edward liking me, plain as I was, or thought. Alice always said that I didn't see myself clearly, but I honestly was not convinced.

Thirty minutes of Alice pampering and dressing me later, we arrived at the coffee shop. Alice's two brothers, Emmett and Edward, and best friends, Rosalie and Jasper, were seated at our usual table drinking their coffee and talking about the new school year and a bunch of other stuff. I sat between Rosalie and Edward and started talking with them; we had become very good friends in just one short week.

"So I see that you survived living a whole week with Alice as a roommate," Edward teased: smirking at my tired and slightly annoyed expression that I still wore from this morning.

"Barely, I probably never would've agreed to this shopping trip if I knew what I was in for,"

"Well she probably would have made you go anyway, she used to make me and Emmett walk around with her all day carrying her bags, that is, before she met Rosalie, then you." He smiled, looking down at me with his dazzling hazel-green eyes and I found myself getting hopelessly lost in their sparkling depths. I quickly averted my eyes to the rim of my coffee mug in an effort to keep my thoughts on-track and my words coherent.

"I'm glad that I could be of service, but I am really, very terrified of what exactly she plans to put me through today. I've never met anyone quite as . . . enthusiastic as Alice, and although I love her like a sister, she scares the hell out of me when she starts talking about shopping or buying things, it's like she's some crazed little kid inside a candy store."

"Don't worry, if she goes too far, I'll come and save you," he laughed at my worried expression.

"Thanks," that was about the only word I could muster, and I could feel my cheeks redden with my embarrassing blush. I liked that we were such good friends, but it killed me that he had no idea how nervous he made me every time that he would even talk to me. I just couldn't handle the constant battle of trying to keep my feelings under wraps; I felt terrible pretending just to be his friend when I really wanted him to like me back.

* * * * * * *

I stumbled back to my dorm room at 5 o'clock pm. There were no real words for how my day went. You could say crazy, traumatic, painful, irritating, indefinite, but none of those words fit right. The only remainders of this excruciatingly long and painful day were my numb feet, burning arms and the endless pile of shopping bags overflowing the small area of our dorm room. I collapsed on my small bed and buried my head into a large pillow before I felt someone tap me on the shoulder.

"Alice, I am going to sleep and don't even think of waking me up before noon tomorrow, I am going to spend the rest of my Saturday sleeping."

"Well I can't speak for my sister, but she probably won't agree to that," a voice that was most definitely not Alice's voice replied to me. I quickly sat up to see Edward smirking at my bewildered expression as I realized that he had spoken to me instead of Alice.

"Oh, erm, Edward . . . where's Alice?"

"She went with everyone else to Rosalie's dorm to watch some movies, I just wanted to see if you wanted to come." He shrugged off the wall and took a seat on Alice's bed, parallel to mine.

"Oh, thanks, I can't believe she ditched me!" Well, it probably wasn't all that much of a surprise after all. I mean, I practically ran up to my room with the little energy I had left from this incredibly long and painful day.

" I don't think she did it on purpose, she can get distracted pretty easily. Come on, it'll be fun." He grabbed my hand and pulled me through the door.

"Alright, fine." I said, giving in, but on the inside, was extremely excited that he wanted me to come with him. "Here, let me just grab some movies and I'll meet you there." I really just needed some time to prepare myself for spending the rest of the afternoon with Edward.

"Ok, I'll tell everyone that you're coming." He gave me a crooked grin and then walked off toward Rosalie's dorm. Ok, I know that I shouldn't be so excited over a friendly gesture, but I just suddenly felt happy, like I could just start jumping up and down and singing at the top of my lungs and not care who sees me or who notices my strange behavior; I just felt complete.

I double-checked my reflection in the mirror for any traces of the mascara Alice had forced upon me this morning, which I was now very grateful for. I didn't bother with anything extra; it would just make me look too unnatural, like I was trying too hard.

I grabbed a couple of my favorite movies and walked quickly down the long, white hall and turned the corner. Rosalie was in room 239, I had never actually been there before, we usually hung out in my dorm, but I followed the numbers on the doors counting up to 239. After room 238 I rounded another corner and saw Edward standing there with his hands in his pockets, talking to someone outside of the room.

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**K, so I left you guys with a cliffy! But don't worry I won't be cruel and wait too long to update. If you didn't read my important message at the beginning of the chapter PLEASE DO! I tried to add in more dialogue between Edward and Bella so you could see their relationship and I'm also sorry if this chapter seems a little rushed.**

**Today's random request: for those of you who can, eat some cookies or sweets or something for me, I can't because I gave it up for lent =(**

**REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW (please?)**

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	4. Something Fishy

**Hola amigos! (In case you've been deprived and don't know any simple Spanish that means: hello friends) **

**First of all, I'm really sorry that I didn't update yesterday. I took my 4 year old cousin to the zoo and I got back home pretty late so I tried to write this by yesterday night, but I fell asleep =} Anyways, here is chapter four and I hope that it goes slow enough and makes it worth the wait.**

**Oh and btw:**

**Edward, Bella and Alice are all freshmen in college; Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie are sophomores. Edward and Alice are fraternal twins and Emmett is their brother. Jasper and Rosalie are also fraternal twins and Bella is an only child (just to clear things up).**

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_Previously-_

_I grabbed a couple of my favorite movies and walked quickly down the long, white hall and turned the corner. Rosalie was in room 239, I had never actually been there before, we usually hung out in my dorm, but I followed the numbers on the doors counting up to 239. After room 238 I rounded another corner and saw Edward standing there with his hands in his pockets, talking to someone outside of the room. _

_Chapter 4- SOMETHING FISHY_

It's really funny how you can think you've figured someone out completely: how you think that you can really know something or someone in just a short time and that there isn't anything new to figure out or any other special thing to be known about them. It's also funny how just when we think we know that person the best, they end up surprising us and showing us that it's never as easy as we think to truly know someone, to know them more then we know ourselves; because, really, no one in the world is capable of knowing exactly how we react and how we express ourselves. That is something that only we, ourselves, can decide when we make our own decisions in life; planned or even those spur-of-the-moment decisions that help us to choose which flavor of ice cream we want the first time that we try it or the decisions we make when we are picking a lucky lottery ticket, hoping to turn a simple $50 ticket into millions. These are the kinds of decisions that keep our lives spontaneous, un-scientific, and immeasurable. These are the kinds of things that make up our very soul and character and make us who we are.

I pondered over these thoughts while scrolling through the endless music selections on the sleek, black iPod nano that I held gently and carefully in my clumsy hands. From heavy rock, to soft, classical music, this iPod probably had every song ever recorded in history, at least all of the good ones. I looked up at Edward and saw him smirking at my awed expression

"I told you I wasn't kidding when I said that I loved music," He grinned his breathtaking crooked smile.

"Yeah," I exhaled loudly, not noticing that I had been holding my breath the entire time that my eyes had been glued to the tiny screen, scanning over his vast music collection.

Alice, Emmett and Rosalie were in the corner of Rose's dorm, involved in a heated discussion over which movie genre was to be watched tonight. Jasper sat near by, but far enough away that he didn't get pulled into their arguments, laughing good-naturedly at all of them and their stubbornness, and intervening when things started to get out of hand, which he had an uncanny ability for.

Edward and I were wrapped up in our own little world: discussing music and its history, while voicing our opinions of every song or artist that we felt strongly about.

"Well, are you going to choose one?" He said, shoving one end of an earpiece into his ear and handing the other side to me.

"I would, but . . . they're just all so good, I can't decide," I argued, not yet having scrolled through half of his songs on his iPod.

"Just pick one Bella." I tried, but the close proximity between him and I was becoming more and more of a distraction. I chewed on my bottom lip for another few seconds before picking a song that I was pretty sure I had never heard before. A beautiful melody played through the earpiece and I was surprised at how skillfully the intricate notes flowed together in harmony. By the startled look on Edward's face, he obviously hadn't expected me to pick this song either. I wondered why I had never heard this song before. It was obviously very good; any music-deprived idiot could see that this was no work of a mere amateur. I had always been a fan of classical music ever since my mother, Renee, would play it in the house ever since I was a little girl, but how had I never heard such a beautiful melody before?

"Edward . . . did _you_ write this?" My eyes were wide in admiration and wonder and even though it was probably a stupid accusation, I couldn't help but wonder if he was the one behind this beautiful masterpiece. Although, I shouldn't be too surprised, I mean, he was good at pretty much everything, why not playing the piano?

His eyes didn't meet mine as he tried to hide the tinge of pink that tinted his pale cheeks. Did I just make the Edward Cullen _blush_? Cue the swoon.

"Umm . . . yeah. I wrote that for someone really special to me," He finally looked up at me with a small, sheepish smile that had replaced his former confident one.

"Who did you write it for?" Curiosity was dripping from my every word.

"My mother, Esme. She is one of the most loving and caring people that I have ever encountered. In fact, she's the one who signed me up for my first lessons when I was three years old. I wrote this for her a few years ago in high school.

"Wow – it's amazing!" I chanced another look at his blazing hazel-green eyes and found myself, once again, lost in their depths.

"Thanks, I – "

"Yes! Take that Emmett, that'll teach you to never mess with Alice Cullen!" Argh! Of course she chooses now to interrupt our discussion. I was just starting to uncover the mystery that was Edward Cullen and Alice had to be so kind as to end my most interesting discovery yet (sarcasm heavily used).

"Haha, dude! How did she beat you?" Edward had obviously forgotten about whatever it was that he was going to say to me. Even though it probably wasn't anything too important like confessing his undying love for me (yeah, right!), I was still a little disappointed that there would always be those secret parts of his life that I would know nothing about, no matter how dramatic that sounds.

"Rock-paper-scissors" Emmett mumbled quietly. Edward just rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"You would think that after 18 years of living with her, you would have finally realized how stupid it is to bet against Alice, much less challenge her to a simple game of rock-paper-scissors." Edward smirked at Emmett's pouting face.

"See Emmett, this is exactly why I like _mature_ men, like my Jasper," Alice teased while giving him a peck on the cheek. Alice and Jasper were never as public about their relationship as Emmett and Rosalie were, but their sweet and loving actions toward each other, not matter how small, made me see how perfect they were together, like two halves of a whole. Jasper had his arms around Alice's tiny shoulders, laughing quietly at Emmett.

"Yeah, well, at least I'm not whipped like Jasper is," Emmett retorted, shifting his glare over to a smiling Jasper.

"And I'd rather be whipped than a wimp," He said back to Emmett, still trying to hold back laughter.

"Come on Emmy, let's just watch Alice's movie," Rose suggested to a still-pouting Emmett.

"So what did you choose Alice?" I asked, hoping it wasn't anything too scary or somehow fashion-related.

"Oh, just my all-time favorite,"

"The Notebook" Edward, Jasper and Emmett all groaned in union.

"What? I love that movie, it's a classic, plus it's so romantic and actors are amazing!" I looked back and forth between the three guys that looked like they would rather bang their heads against a wall.

"It was great the first couple of times," Edward explained to me "but after the first fifty, you start wanting to pull your hair out."

"Whatever guys, I won against Emmett so we're watching _my_ movie! Besides, don't act like you guys don't like it, I've seen all three of you get teary-eyed watching this video," And with that Alice quickly and forcefully shoved the movie into the ancient-looking VCR and curled up in Jasper's lap after turning off the lights.

"Well, well, who would have thought that Edward Cullen actually gets emotional during romance movies?" I whispered to him.

"Just because I liked it, doesn't mean that I get emotional,"

"Ok, whatever you say," I smirked at him

"You're never going to let this go, are you?"

"Not a chance in the world,"

He rolled his eyes at me and turned back to the movie. About halfway through it, I felt tears stinging the back of my eyes. My emotional side was kicking in and I felt tears trying to force their way out of my eyes.

"Now who is getting emotional Miss Swan?" Edward whispered to me. I sniffed and quickly whipped away a few tears that I hadn't noticed escape.

"No one is." I said stubbornly, trying to keep my voice sounding as normal as possible. He rolled his eyes again.

"Ok, whatever you say," He said, mocking my earlier words and smirking before focusing his attention back to the movie.

A few minutes later, I found it more and more difficult to control the sniffs and tears escaping from me. This time Edward looked over at me with a worried expression and put an arm around my shoulders before pulling me into him. He stroked my arm and whispered "It's ok, Bella," repeatedly to me and, surprisingly, I felt much calmer and safer with him comforting me like that. I smiled a little and couldn't ignore how good it felt to be in his warm embrace, not to mention the fact that he smelt _so_ good: better than any cologne I had ever smelt in my life.

Just then, his cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out and glanced at the caller id, giving me an apologetic expression.

"Sorry Bella, I have to take this, I'll be right back,"

"Yeah, sure, no problem," He silently walked over to the other side of the dorm and carried out his conversation in hushed tones. I couldn't pay attention to the movie anymore, so I looked at Edward as he talked on his phone. His back was turned to me, but I noticed him glance anxiously around the room every once in a while as if he was worried of someone hearing his conversation: as if he was afraid of someone else knowing who he was talking to or what he was talking about. He finally hung-up and walked back over to me. To my enjoyment, and surprise, he took me in his arms again.

"Who were you talking to?" He had acted a little odd while he was on the phone, but that could also just be my imagination and the fact that it was 11:30 and I had just spent the entire day at the mall.

"Uh, nobody . . . just forget it" Yep, that was weird, but I didn't push him any farther. He didn't seem in the mood to talk about it, which just made him even more of a mystery to me than he was before.

After the movie was over, Alice slipped in another movie since none of us were in the mood to get up and go back to our dorms. This time it was a less emotional movie, The Devil Wears Prada, so I found my mind wandering all over the place, but whatever direction it went off on, it always found its way back to Edward. I was still thinking about the person Edward was talking to outside Rose's dorm. He had that same behavior like when he was on his cell phone a little while ago: slightly tensed, perhaps a bit cryptic, and extremely secretive. I didn't even know if that person was a girl or a guy. It looked like they had blonde hair, or maybe it was a light brown, either way he seemed different around them, like he was a whole other person.

As hard as I tried, I found myself slowly succumbing to unconsciousness as my eyes fluttered closed, still in Edward's arms. That night I dreamed of a beautiful green-eyed Adonis. He always seemed to disappear as soon as I tried to reach out and touch his perfect face and then appear a hundred yards farther away from me: always out of reach like a perfectly crafted illusion meant to lure me away from everything else. Every time I thought that I could touch him, like I could make him stay, he would just disappear, leaving me alone, but only more determined to find him.

**So that's chapter 4: like it? Hate it? REVIEW!!! **

**I know you all thought that Edward wrote that song for Bella, but he only met her a week ago and besides, it's not like he has a piano in his dorm or anything (although that would be cool).**

**I tried to show you the sort of beginning of their relationship and kind of the mystery behind Edward that Bella is trying to figure out.**

***Remember: REVIEWS MAKE ME HAPPY AND MAKING ME HAPPY MEANS MORE UPDATES =)**


	5. What an Interesting Day

**HAPPY EASTER!!!! Sorry for the delay, I know that you guys are probably pretty pissed with me but I just wasn't able to finish it before the end of last weekend. **

**I'm sooooo happy that I was able to get this chapter out this weekend for you guys. Today has just been a very good day for me because lent is finally over and I can have sweets again! (From now on, I'm only going to give up something like chocolate or ice cream because it was frickin **_**hard**_** to give up all kinds of sweets)This morning I had a nutritious breakfast of a giant chocolate chip cookie (in the shape of a rabbit) to celebrate. **

**Anyways, I hope this isn't getting to you guys too late. In Hawaii it's like 7:30 so it's probably much later for you guys (sorry!). So, without further a due, enjoy chapter 5! =) (with virtual cookies shaped like rabbits for everyone)**

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_Previously- _

_As hard as I tried, I found myself slowly succumbing to unconsciousness as my eyes fluttered closed, still in Edward's arms. That night I dreamed of a beautiful green-eyed Adonis. He always seemed to disappear as soon as I tried to reach out and touch his perfect face and then appear a hundred yards farther away from me: always out of reach like a perfectly crafted illusion meant to lure me away from everything else. Every time I thought that I could touch him, like I could make him stay, he would just disappear, leaving me alone, but only more determined to find him._

_Chapter 5- WHAT AN INTERESTING DAY_

Though my dreams were full of frustration and confusion, I felt oddly peaceful as I slept the day away. My forehead was pressed into something hard and warm that smelled amazing and I felt more comfortable than I ever had in my entire life. However, some part of my subconscious told me to be worried, as it picked up on the fact that I was obviously not in my own bed, if in fact I was even in a bed at all. My hands, which were lying by my side, picked up on the rough texture of carpet and the hardness of it that was pressed almost painfully into my back. _How an earth had I slept on the floor all night?_

My subconscious now picked up on my other senses, detecting every small difference like the sound of someone's even breathing, whispers somewhere far away and the wonderful feeling that I had of serenity and protection. I shifted a little, and then froze as I realized that a something warm and hard was draped around my waist. I jerked my eyes open – _ugh! Not good_ – then shut them, feeling like they would get burned from the incredibly bright light coming through the window. I peeked my eyes open again, but more carefully this time and quietly gaped at what I saw.

My forehead was pressed into Edward's shoulder and his strong arm was wrapped tightly around my slender waist and I noticed how good it felt to be in Edward's arms. Despite this new, and unintentional, contact, I couldn't rip my eyes away from his breath-taking face. He had his head turned towards me: his lovely bronze hair was a mess, though still just as beautiful as it's ever been, and I wanted so badly to run my fingers through it and see if it was a soft as it looked. His sweet breath fanned across my face with every relaxed breath of his even breathing. And finally, his face: his eyelids were closed and had a purplish tinge to them, his nose was the same: straight, angular and perfect, and his soft, pink lips were slightly parted. The sight of him was so different than his usual, cocky, joking and confident self. He looked so innocent and vulnerable: it was almost heart wrenching.

My heart spluttered in my chest as I subconsciously lifted my hand stroked his incredibly soft bronze hair with my fingers. I wasn't thinking about what I was doing, I just had to touch his face: my fingers trailed down from his hairline, to the purplish bruises under his eyes and traced over his eyelids gently with my forefinger, careful not to wake him up. My finger grazed down his nose, just above his upper lip, and then rested my palm on his pale cheek.

Just as I was about to pull my hand away, his large, warm hand flashed up to mine and clamped itself over my own hand, molding it to his cheek. _Oh Shit!_ My eyes widened and I stopped breathing: praying to god that he hadn't just caught me stroking his face. Adrenaline pumped through my veins and my heart was beating rapidly, threatening to bust through my chest and my muscles tensed, waiting for him to open his eyes. He didn't. He didn't even move. His breathing stayed the same: slow and even, and nothing about his features gave any sign that he was even conscious as to what was happening. My heart slowed immediately and a wave of exhaustion passed through me. I pressed my forehead onto his shoulder again and tried my best to fall asleep after taking one last glance at Edward's perfect face: closing my eyes as a small smile spread across my face. There was a soft click and a bright flash before I fell quickly to sleep, once again.

***************

I slept peacefully for what seemed like hours, just letting my mind fill with dreams of my green-eyed Adonis. Eventually someone started humming a song or something. I groaned and clutched onto something warm and rested my head on top of it. The humming stopped abruptly and the object started shaking under me and like it was . . . laughing?

"Well, good morning to you too, Bella," I'd know that velvety voice anywhere. I opened my eyes to see Edward smirking at me as I realized that my head was currently resting on his chest and I was clutching his shirt with my hand for dear life. My face immediately reverted to a color like tomato red and I quickly sat up, releasing his shirt.

"Ugh! What time is it?" I asked, desperately trying to change the subject.

"It's around 7:00 in the morning," He was smirking at me, waiting for my reaction. I glared at him.

"Edward Cullen! Why the hell would you wake me up at 7:00 on a Sunday morning? You're no better than Alice," I grabbed a pillow off the bed next to us, since we had decided to crash on the floor, and hurled it at him to get him to stop laughing at me.

"Well, you were the one who woke me up in the first place," He continued to laugh as I continued to hit him with the pillow that I was now finding was too soft an object to hit him with. I raised my eyebrows at him, questioning his reasoning.

"Did you know that you sleep talk?" He grinned mischievously, leaning toward me. I froze mid-swing and I could swear that my face would be permanently red from blushing so hard. I brought the pillow down into my lap and buried my face in it.

"What did I say?" I mumbled

"Hmm? What was that you said? I couldn't hear you," He insisted, trying to play dumb.

"_What_ did I _say_?!" I demanded, hissing at him.

"Oh, nothing really," _Damnit_! I knew that meant that I had said something really bad.

"Oh God!" I groaned.

"Really, it wasn't so bad. At one point you were having a very vivid dream – or should I say nightmare – about calculus classes, then you started reading off the value of pi all the way to the hundredth digit, it was quite fascinating, actually," He seemed deep in thought remembering this.

"And after that . . . " I had to know what I said, even though I'm probably really going to regret it.

"Well, after that . . . you started to say my name . . . and you said that I smelled really good," He finished, looking extremely pleased with himself. I gaped at him, my eyes wide and my mouth hanging open.

"I did not!"

"Yes, you did. You even said 'Edward, you smell wonderful'" He gloated, showing me his crooked smile.

"Are you sure that that wasn't just your big fat ego, swelling up your big fat head and making you imagine all of this?"

"I'm pretty sure, I'm not _that_ creative," Just then my phone vibrated in my jeans pocket and made me jump to my feet and give a small shriek. Edward proceeded to laugh even harder at me as I fished my phone out of my pocket.

"Hello?"

"Good, you're awake, I thought I'd have to go in there and drag you out," a pixie-like voice replied.

"Alice?" I spun around, taking in the entire room. I hadn't noticed that the others had already left, though it is a little difficult to notice when you just cruelly embarrassed yourself in front of your . . . _friend_.

"Forgotten us already? What have you and my brother been up to Bella?"

"What? I – nothing! Alice just tell me what you called about!"

She giggled into the phone, "Anyway, all of us are going to do something today and, yes, that includes you. Tomorrow we will have officially started our college lives and all the fun will be sucked away by exams and all-nighters, so you _will_ come and you _will_ have a great time with us." Well, it's not like I'm doing anything anyway. I could be fun with just the six of us hanging out together and I would do anything just to forget this morning . . . well, the embarrassing part at least.

"Sure, Alice. Where to?"

"Our favorite place: La Bella Italia, you know where it is. Me and Jasper are going to be running some erans today so just get Edward and meet us there at around 6 – ish tonight and then we'll meet up with Rose and Em also. It isn't formal or anything, so I will trust you to dress yourself pretty well without me, but please don't let me down,"

"No Bella Barbie? Oh gosh-darnit! You know how much I love it when you spend hours making me look good," My voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Haha, very funny. So I'll see you guys at six and don't be late! I already made reservations for us tonight under Cullen, in case you get there first,"

"Sure thing Alice, see you there,"

"See ya, Bells," _Click_

"What was my dear sister calling about this time?"

"Apparently we're all going out tonight to La Bella Italia. We are to arrive at approximately 6 o'clock p.m. under the strict demands of Mary-Alice Cullen. We're supposed to meet everyone else there later because they have some "errands" to run: what ever the hell that means,"

He scoffed, "With Alice less is always more. It doesn't take 18 years of living with her to understand _that_,"

I glanced at the clock again. 7:30. _Damn, it's just not early enough to go back to sleep again_. "I think I had better get back to my dorm, I've got a bunch more to do before school tomorrow, that includes getting all of my school supplies, actually attempting to read the information booklet and possibly trying to memorize my schedule," I turned to grab the movies I brought over, "By the way, can I catch a ride with you? I don't have a car and I don't exactly want to walk there,"

"Sure, just meet me at my dorm at 5:45 or something,"

"Thanks, well, see you later," I waved at him and walked halfway out the door.

"Goodbye Bella," I turned to see him giving me his classic crooked smile and my heart spluttered once again.

"Uh-um, bye," was my clever reply before stumbling out into the empty hallway.

The blood rushed to my cheeks again, thankfully when Edward _wasn't_ there to witness more of my embarrassing behavior. Then I realized what I must look like if someone was standing in the hall seeing me stumble out of someone else's dorm room flushed, dazed, dreamy, wearing the same clothes as yesterday . . . um, yeah, I definitely did not want this to be what people were talking about on my first day of college. With that in mind, I ran as quickly as I could, without stumbling, back to my dorm.

*************************************

After an exciting day at Office Depot picking out just the right spiral notebooks and different colored highlighters, 5 o'clock finally rolled around I decided to at least try to put some thought into getting myself dressed. Maybe I could make Alice proud and start off the year on good terms with her and possibly, although it isn't likely, get her to skip out on Bella Barbie time for the first day of school.

I slipped on some dark-wash skinny jeans with a light cotton shirt with thick white and navy blue strips on it and a light grey cardigan that had sleeves reaching to the middle of my bicep. This was good enough, not too fancy, yet it isn't shorts and a tank top. I even applied some clear lip-gloss and a touch of mascara. Alice would be so proud of me right now. I stuffed my thin cell phone and my dorm keys into my jeans pocket before heading over to Edward's dorm.

I knocked three times on the plain, white door, realizing that it was already 5:50, "Hurry up _princess_, we're going to be late," Seconds later Edward emerged from his dorm wearing a navy-blue button down shirt that was rolled up past his elbows and black jeans, scowling at me. I just smiled sweetly at him and made our way down to the parking garage.

His sleek, silver Volvo was waiting in its usual space and I slipped in gracefully onto the comfy black leather seats. The car purred to life and he drove quickly away from the campus. Almost immediately he fiddled with the built-in stereo and Clair de Lune began playing softly through the built-in speakers.

"Clair de Lune is one of my favorite," I said while humming along with it.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you know Debussy too,"

We kept up light conversations about random things before we arrived at the restaurant 2 minutes late. I mashed my lips together, ready for Alice to be waiting on the other side of the doors, ready to lecture us for being late. I was surprised when I didn't come face-to-face with the pixie herself, but even more surprised when she and everyone else was nowhere to be found. One of the first things that I've learned about Alice is that she is never late, especially not when meeting friends for dinner, if anything, she would be there at least 10 minutes early. Edward and I must have been thinking the same thing because we both looked at each other like we were making sure that we were actually seeing this.

Edward walked up to the hostess and said in a velvety voice, "We have reservations under Cullen,"

"Alright, just a moment sir," she stated, smiling suggestively at Edward. My insides boiled and I decided to call Alice.

"Hello?" she picked up on the third ring.

"Alice where are you guys?"

"Oh, right, I – um, was going to call you, but – uh, we can't make it tonight,"

"Ex_cuse_ me?"

"Well, yeah, Jasper needed my help for something and, well, we can't make it, but that's ok, just enjoy your dinner with Edward, Rosalie and Emmett,"

"Alice, Rose and Emmett aren't here either,"

"Oh, really? Interesting, well, sorry about that, I'll guess I'll talk to you tomorrow, bye!" She blurted out quickly, then hung up, leaving me standing there, gawking at my phone.

I finally composed myself and snapped my phone shut angrily and walked back over to Edward, "She's not coming,"

"What?"

"None of them are. Supposedly they have 'things to do.'" I was steaming right now.

Edward let out a deep sigh, then pinched the bridge of his nose while shaking his head slightly. "Alright, let's just leave, we–"

"Right this way," the hostess interrupted, grabbing some menus and walking briskly to the back of the restaurant. Not knowing what to do, we just scurried after her and were lead to a small table with two chairs, obviously meant for two people, not six.

"Um, excuse me, but I think there has been a mistake," I told her, "I mean, now we only need a small table since our friends didn't show up, but didn't we have a reservation for six?"

"Um, no ma'am. We got a reservation for _two_ under Cullen for a Mr. Edward Cullen and a Miss Isabella Swan. That's you, right?" That fricken deviating little pixie!

"Yes, that's us," I hissed. Alice was _soooo_ dead for this! I looked over to Edward and he looked just as pissed as I was.

He took a deep breath again, "Well, we're here, we may as well just try to have fun even after Alice's" he spoke her name like a curse, "little trick," I agreed. We were friends and could enjoy our time without the rest of them.

Soon we were able to forget about Alice's prank and the fact that everyone had conspired against us. I decided to save my anger for when I got back to my dorm so that I could yell at her personally. We both ordered the mushroom ravioli and talked some more, laughing until our stomachs hurt and we were always smiling at what the other had to say. Anyone who was watching us would have thought that we were a couple or on a first date. As always, I was stubborn about letting Edward pay the bill. He argued that he was brought up to be a gentleman and not let a lady pay the bill. Finally I just rolled my eyes at him and let him have his own damn way with it. I was a little sad when the night had actually ended, yet I just couldn't be too disappointed when I was with Edward, his crooked smile and his quiet laugh were just contagious and I found myself giving in to his charm.

We laughed and teased each other some more until we parted at my dorm and Edward gave me one last crooked grin before rushing off in the direction of his own room on the 3rd floor. I walked into my room smiling like a high school girl after just getting her first kiss (except for the fact that I was in college and Edward was just my friend not my boyfriend). I looked into my room and found Alice lying on her bed in her pj's reading a fashion magazine and looking up at me with a smirk.

"How'd it go? Are you finally going out with my brother or not?" I didn't know what to say. I just stared at her with my mouth wide open, not knowing if my lack of speech was caused more from shock or anger.

"I'm guessing that's a 'no,'" I finally regained my composure

"Of course not Alice! Did you just think that after your little stunt tonight we would exchanging vows the next day?"

"Don't be such a drama queen Bella. Admit it, you had a lot of fun and owe me a thank you for finally giving you the chance to realize how much you really like him,"

"Whatever Alice," I walked into the bathroom and slammed the door shut before turning on the shower so that the hot steam fogged up the mirror and calmed me down.

**EPOV** _(Omg! I know right!)_

I was still smiling as I opened the door to my dorm and flipped on the light. I snickered at Jasper who was sprawled across his tiny bed snoring softly. Poor guy, Alice must really tire him out. I thought seriously of tossing my pillow over at him, but decided against it. On top of the little desk that I had crammed in the corner of the dorm, was a small, white envelope with the name _Edward_ written in Alice's flawless writing. _God, what was the little pixie up to now?_

I tore it open and found a note from Alice:

_Hey Edward,_

_I know that you're probably about to pop a blood vessel at what I did tonight, but just hold off for a second. Even though I know that you don't want to admit it, I know that you really like Bella as more than a friend. I'm just hoping that tonight has gotten you to finally open your damn eyes and see it for yourself. Anyway, I want you give you something that might make you see it for yourself (just in case you're really that thick-headed)._

_~Alice_

_P.S. try not to mention this to Bella, she doesn't know about this either (you're the only one who has it)_

I reached inside the envelope and pulled out a picture. I immediately smiled at what I saw: it was me and Bella in Rose's dorm, asleep on the floor. My arm was around her thin waist and her creamy forehead was pressed into my shoulder. My head was turned toward her and my other hand wad holding her hand over my cheek. Sunlight was streaming through the windows, making Bella's hair look reddish – brown and if you looked closely, it looked like we were both smiling just a little bit in our sleep. _How had I not remembered doing this?_ I got ready for bed and slipped under the covers. I looked at the picture one last time before sticking it in the small drawer in my nightstand. I turned off the light and closed my eyes with a gigantic smile still plastered onto my face.

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**Yay for Edward's POV! I thought I'd give you guys an extra treat for having to wait for so long (sorry again). I know that it's late and stuff, but would it be too selfish of me to ask for a few reviews? (and btw, Edward was NOT awake when he held her hand on his cheek, that was just his subconscious controlling him)**

**This time I PROMISE to have the next chapter up by next weekend. There, you have it in writing, so please don't beg me to have the next chapter up any sooner, I have school and swimming, and I'm about to start paddling so my schedule is blocked for the week until Saturday when I can write some more.**

**I also will tell you guys that the next chapter will definitely have some drama in it and Edward's mysterious friend will make another appearance. Some people are asking me if it's Tanya or if Edward's a player or not, but I am not going to answer anything right now. I'm not yet sure what I'm going to include in the next chapter or not, but there WILL be drama and there WILL be some interesting encounters, so keep reading!**

**And please REVIEW!!!**


	6. What You Get When You Let Your Heart Win

**Ok, I'm really sorry! Over a month since the last update! Yikes! I am aware that I promised you guys and even though this is no excuse, I have to let you guys know that I was sick for most of the past few weeks (thankfully not the swine flu, actually it was the stomach flu) as well as having my internet cut off for the other few weeks as well. =(**

**Some of this is a little filler-ish, but it gets MUCH better at the end when . . . well, you'll see! Hope it was somewhat worth the wait, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: (Though I have not made a point of saying this before) These wonderful characters all belong to the great and powerful Stephanie Meyer. All hail her and her beautiful imagination! =)**

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_Previously-_

_I reached inside the envelope and pulled out a picture. I immediately smiled at what I saw: it was of me and Bella in Rose's dorm, asleep on the floor. My arm was around her thin waist and her creamy forehead was pressed into my shoulder. My head was turned toward her and my other hand wad holding her hand over my cheek. Sunlight was streaming through the windows, making Bella's hair look reddish – brown and if you looked closely, it looked like we were both smiling just a little bit in our sleep. How had I not remembered doing this? I got ready for bed and slipped under the covers. I looked at the picture one last time before sticking it in the small drawer in my nightstand. I turned off the light and closed my eyes with a gigantic smile still plastered onto my face._

_Chapter 6- THAT'S WHAT YOU GET WHEN YOU LET YOUR HEART WIN_

**BPOV**

"_I'll keep you my dirty little secret (Dirty little secret) Don't tell anyone or you'll be just another regret (Just another regret, hope that you can keep it) My dirty little secret Who has to know the way she feels inside (inside) Those thoughts I can't deny (deny) These sleeping thoughts won't lie (won't lie) And all I've tried to hide It's eating me apart Trace this life out . . ._ " So here I was; belting out the lyrics of 'Dirty Little Secret' by the All-American Rejects in my empty dorm room while jumping up and down on my tiny, old bed, which was not the best idea considering my "graceful" history. No, I haven't gone crazy or emo or anything like that, I just happened to wake up on the "right" side of the bed this morning, feeling giddy and keyed up, and so there is the reason for jumping on my bed like a carefree teenager and singing along to one of my favorite songs.

"I'll keep you my dirty little secret – Ah!" Just as the chorus starts up again on my iPod I see the tiny pixie herself looking up at me and laughing. And, of course, my clumsy self chooses this time to make its reappearance. My feet twisted together as I spun around, promptly throwing myself onto the hard, carpeted floor. "_Oof_!" I could feel a huge gust of air escape my lungs as I hit the floor and groaned.

Alice was trying extremely hard to hide her smile, but it was quite difficult with all of the giggles and snorts escaping from her mouth. I just glared at her from my spot on the ground, which, in turn, only made her laugh harder at my expression.

When she finally calmed down she was able to start her interrogation on my behavior. Alice didn't miss anything, she knew exactly when something was up, especially when you were dancing on your bed, singing into your hairbrush like you did after you got your first kiss when you were a teenager. Hmm, maybe that's what I was acting like: a crazy love-struck teenager who had her first crush. Oh well, I didn't really care anymore.

"So, what's got you singing and dancing these days?"

"I'm not saying a word until you admit to your sneaky little trick you pulled on me last night"

"I have no idea what you are talking about" Her face was completely serious, not like the people in movies who smile and look away when they "try" to keep their cover. She was acting so serious and clueless that I almost believed her. Almost.

"Cut the crap Alice, I know that you set that up at the restaurant unless the managers thought to sit six grown college students at a tiny table with only 2 seats! It was also very 'convenient' how all four of you cancelled on the same night,"

She rolled her eyes at my dramatic accusation, "Fine, whatever Bella, but you will thank me one day! Besides, I know that you had fun, so quit acting like a baby and thank me already."

I narrowed my eyes at her and said in as much of a sarcastic tone as I could muster: "Thank you Alice"

"No problem! See? That wasn't too hard." she smiled and then bounced off to her side of the room, rummaging through her closet, which I won't even describe how many different articles of clothing she had crammed in there.

I got up off of the floor and sat down on my small single bed and started flipping through a magazine. More celebrity gossip was just what I needed to take my mind off of Edward. Most of it was very interesting, though sometimes I could care less about the two page articles that talked about Britney Spears walking around with her kids. It made me wonder if the paparazzi just had nothing better to do than stalking different celebrities with no better drama than walking around doing basic every-day activities. Even I had more drama in my life than some of these people did, if you take out all of the crazy drug-addicted, pregnant, or anorexic people *cough* – Lindsey Lohan, Jamie Lynn Spears, Mary-Kate Olsen - *cough*

"So . . ." Alice started, interrupting my little rant going on in my head, "did you have fun last night? I'd just like to know if my ingenious plan was at all successful,"

I looked down and hid my face in my magazine so that she wouldn't see the slight blush that had stained my cheeks, "Well, if you have to know . . . I had a wonderful time last night"

She squealed, "Yay! I'm so happy for you two!"

"Alice I didn't –"

"Hey pixie! Hey Bella! What's up?" Emmett boomed as he came bursting through the door with Rosalie and Jasper following him.

Jasper glided over to Alice like there was a magnetic pull between them and wrapped his arms around her waist as she bounced up and down in his arms.

"Well Bella was just talking about how wonderful her date was with Edward last night" she blurted out, pointing straight at me.

"Alice! It was not a date! It was a casual dinner between two very good _friends_ that their crazy sister/other best friend tricked them into!"

"_Psh_!" Alice disregarded my comment with a wave of her hand.

"Alright! Edward and Bella are finally goin' out. I knew that plan would work" he nudged Jasper "it let Eddie-boy finally work he magic on the ladies."

I swear my jaw was on the ground and my face would never return to its normal color. I didn't know if I should be more shocked or embarrassed or frickin pissed. "Wha . . . you . . . you were ALL in on it!" my voice rose and my hands balled into fists. "I can't believe you guys!" I said, pointing my finger at all of them. (AN: not her middle finger, her pointer finger, she's not _that_ pissed)

"Sorry Bells, but this is good for him and for you. He's always so moody all of the time, he seriously needs to get laid."

"Emmett!" We all screamed in union. _Smack_! That would be Rosalie.

"What exactly did you think was going to happen between us? It doesn't matter if I like him or not because nothing even happened last night and nothing ever will!"

"Don't be such a drama queen Bella. You two are so cute together. Every time I see you guys together I can tell that you like each other. Normal friends don't flirt and smile all the time the way you and Edward do." Rose put her hand on my shoulder.

"I've known him for less than a month and you guys want me to confess my feelings to him? Feelings that I'm not even sure about yet?"

"A month is more than enough time to realize your feelings for someone. I started dating Jasper after 2 days. Rosalie and Emmett started dating after 2 _minutes_." I looked over at them with my eyebrows raised. Rose gave me a sheepish smile, but Emmett just shrugged.

"Bella, we're not talking about expressing your undying love to him and forcing you to think about spending the rest of your life with him. We just think that it would be good to try going out with each other. See if you like him as more than a friend and if you don't, no harm done."

"Yeah, no harm done except for the awkwardness every time that I see him if this doesn't work out."

"It's already going to be awkward if the both of you have to hang out together while trying to hide your feelings or your ogling at each other," at this I snorted, "What is this Bella? Some middle school drama over a guy you have a crush on? You are in college! Just frickin go up and talk to him and stop acting like a baby!" I let out an exasperated sigh.

"Why the hell do I have to make the "first move"?" He should be man enough to do it, after all I'm the girl!"

"Bella, men are clueless when it comes to showing their "feelings." What you need to do is just walk up to him and be like 'Why the hell don't you ask me out already?'"

I took another deep breath and let my head fall back on my pillow, "Alice I'm done talking about this. I just want some peace and quiet." I guessed that the tone of my voice let her know that I was serious and she backed off.

"_Hmph_, you and Edward are the most stubborn people in the world," she mumbled.

I smiled to myself, seeing that I had won this argument for now. Alice soon left with everyone to get pizza, but I just felt like staying home and reading Wurthering Heights, one of my favorite and most used books that I owned. It was one of the few that I had taken to college, thinking that I would have enough time to go to a bookstore off-campus to find some newer things to read. I was surprised that people had enough time to go do things every weekend. I was only a month into my college career and I was swamped with homework, though this was my first weekend that I didn't have to pull all-nighters in order to finish it all. _I wonder what Edward is doing right now._ He is always so easy to talk to; he always makes me feel happy or carefree whenever I'm around him. His personality takes away all of the nervousness or insecurity I feel when I see his flawless face or his piercing green eyes staring into my plain, brown ones. His eyes were just so beautiful and unique, just like his messy bronze hair; they seemed to be the perfect accents to how perfect his personality is. And his lips always look so soft and warm – _Ugg! What am I doing? I can't even let my mind wonder with out it going back to thinking of Edward!_

I got up off of my bed, threw my book down and held my head in my hands. Maybe Alice was right; maybe I just need to tell him. No, I can't, we were just becoming best friends and this is just going to ruin it. But I can't stop thinking about him. Why did I have to go and ruin a great friendship by liking him? The only person that can make me feel better right now is the Adonis himself. I can still hang out with him, though, I mean, it's not like I have to tell him right now. I just have to hang out with him and get myself to realize that I have no feelings toward him and that we will only be friends. I can show Alice that there is nothing going on between us and she can stop bothering me. But what if I really do like him? Well, I'm fine with just pretending that I only like him as a friend. If it allows me to see him more often, then that's fine with me, but I will never know until I've established my feelings.

I bit my lower lip, took another deep breath and walked out of my dorm, letting my feet guide me as my mind continued to weigh the situation carefully. I turned quickly around the corner and – _Bang!_ – ran smack dab into Edward himself. I banged my head on his and fell backwards onto the floor. These were the moments when I felt like I was in a cartoon; running into the exact person that you were swooning over only to completely embarrass yourself right in front of them.

In moments Edward was up off of the floor, offering his hand to help me up; an apologetic grin was on his face. "Sorry about that Bella, are you ok?"

I smiled at him, "Yeah, sorry about that,"

"Well, I was actually just looking for you. I thought that since the others ditched us again for pizza, that we could watch a movie in my dorm."

This was the perfect opportunity to see if my feelings for him were actually there or not, but it's always a bonus when you get to spend time with someone as sweet and perfect as Edward, "Sure, I'd love to, but let me bring over some of my own movies because as exciting as Emmett's action films are, you are in some serious need of a new genre,"

"What's wrong with a little action? That's what makes it exciting and interesting to watch," he replied smirking at me.

"Nothing at all, except when you've seen enough plane and car crashes to make you want to avoid those vehicles all together. I'll just grab some other movies and meet you there,"

"Fine, see you in a bit," he turned back the way that he had come.

As I was searching through movies that Alice and I had stored in our room I tried to analyze every single thing that happened during our brief conversation. I was sick and tired of being flustered and confused every time that I saw him, wondering if I really liked him or if I was just happy that I had such a good friend. As surprising as it may sound, Edward and I were almost as good friends as me and Alice are.

My thoughts raced as I walked slowly towards Edward and Jasper's dorm. I was having one of those rare out-of-body experiences when you are physically there, but it feels like your mind is somewhere else and you are watching things through someone else's eyes.

Edward was in room 239, I had never actually been there before, we usually hung out in my dorm, but I followed the numbers on the doors counting up to 239. After room 238 I rounded another corner and saw Edward standing there with his hands in his pockets, talking to someone outside of the room.

He had his back toward me and I couldn't see the mysterious figure that was blocked by him. I probably should have let him know I was here and shouldn't have eavesdropped, but at the moment my curiosity was getting the better of me. He shifted a little bit and I caught a small glimpse of long, blond hair and a gorgeous face.

As a reflex the corner of my mouth turned down a little, but I told myself that I shouldn't be surprised. It's not like we were dating so that gave him the right to flirt with other people and have a girlfriend and everything. Besides, we were only friends, and nothing more. It's obvious that he feels this way and I should be thankful that it won't be as awkward with us anymore. She might not even be his girlfriend, although I wouldn't be too surprised if he had one, he _was_ the perfect guy in almost every aspect, according to me.

As much as I wanted to believe that I didn't like him, as I stood their watching him talk to her, feeling my stomach drop, and the corners of my mouth instinctively turn down, I knew that this was a lie. I did like him, much more than he liked me, but that was irrelevant right now. I can finally admit to myself that he is so much more to me than a friend, which has been about the worst thing that happened to me in the past month.

The next thing that happened seemed to go in slow motion; she leaned towards him, eyes drooped, lips parted, head tilted and standing on her toes. My hopes that he would turn away were lost with every centimeter that she got closer to him. Her manicured hand curled slowly and almost menacingly around his neck and pulled him to her. Her lips connected with the ones that I had gazed and dreamed about for weeks and I let out a pained breath like I had just been kicked in the gut. He seemed frozen at first, like he was utterly shocked that a beautiful girl would actually kiss him, but after five painfully long seconds, his large soft hands grabbed her around her shoulders.

My breathing was strangled and thick and I spun around, letting my feet carry me quickly back around the corner and down to my room. I needed to get out of there, anywhere. My legs went faster and faster, not making a noise on the thick carpet. As clumsy as I may be, I actually like to run whenever I'm upset or need to think. It's like my emotions were hard-wired to my feet, and my tear ducts. I threw the movies through my open dorm room and kept running, down the stairs and out of the building, into the warm night.

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**So? Like it, hate it? I won't be sure until I get some Reviews. **

**Yeah, I know that I probably don't deserve them, but seriously 4 reviews for chapter 5! Can we at least keep it above 6? Cuz 4 is pretty lame if you ask me**

**I have already started writing the next two chapters, so they will be out sooner, but I'm not sure when =)**

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	7. Keep on Dreamin'

**AAAAHHHH!!! Wow, it has been so long! I'm sorry about this guys, really, I have just been really busy as usual and things have gotten out of hand. For one, I couldn't even update because this laptop belongs to the school, and they had to take it away for a few weeks after school ended and give it back for summer school (idk, why, its really stupid) **

**But anyway, the next chapter **_**might**_** be the last (for now) and will be up by tomorrow or tonight, no joke this time. Thanks to all that have stuck with this story and put up with my constant excuses**

_***This Chapter is Dedicated To**_**: Esli128, californiaucla, 31bubbly37, Alice06, and cullenized16 **for reviewing chapter 6 and my next chapter will also be dedicated to all that review for me (which I'm posting tonight, but I will keep adding all of the people that review to the list as they review)

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_Previously-_

_My breathing was strangled and thick and I spun around, letting my feet carry me quickly back around the corner and down to my room. __I needed to get out of there, anywhere. My legs went faster and faster, not making a noise on the thick carpet. As clumsy as I may be, I actually like to run whenever I'm upset or need to think. It's like my emotions were hard-wired to my feet . . . and my tear ducts. I threw the movies through my open dorm room and kept running, down the stairs and out of the building, into the warm night. _

_Chapter 4- KEEP ON DREAMIN'_

Hundreds of different emotions hit me like a wrecking ball: wretched, pathetic, furious, pitiful, disoriented, stunned and the list goes on and on. I felt like I wanted to cry or throw up, but I couldn't. I just kept running, ignoring my screaming muscles or my exhausted breath. I just kept pushing harder and harder, distracting myself from anything else.

Sometime later, maybe minutes or hours, I wasn't too sure, I stumbled back to my dorm. I didn't check to see if Alice was there, I just flung myself into bed and wrapped the blankets tightly around my shaking frame and fell asleep in the one last comfort of my bed.

* * * * * * * *

I felt the familiar dizziness hit me as I slowly regained my consciousness. My limbs were sore and heavy and I couldn't ignore the feeling that there was something that I had forgotten, something majorly important that was still haunting me in my dreams last night. It was another minute before I was aware of hushed whispers coming from the other side of the small dorm.

" . . . still sleeping, I don't know what happened last night," my roommate's confused voice was loud enough for me to hear the worry she was trying to disguise, and I racked my brain for any memory of last night, but sleep had left my mind fuzzy and disoriented. Softer whispers replied, but they were too soft for me to make out their message.

"I told you, I don't know! Edward said she was looking for movies and when I came back she wasn't there!" She sounded quite exhausted, like she was starting to panic about something. That's when it hit me like I had been suddenly splashed in the face with icy-cold water: banging heads . . . movies . . . Edward . . . that _girl_ . . . running . . . pain. After that, my memory went blank by the dreamless, yet terrifying sleep that had taken over last night shortly after I was back in my dorm.

The all too fresh memory still hurt like a new kick in my gut. I sat up, but I was suddenly hit with a wave of vertigo and my head started spinning. A soft moan escaped my lips at the intense burning in my muscles. Alice's head snapped up and her icy blue eyes locked on my sleepy, brown ones. Millions of emotions danced across her face within seconds: worry, frustration, exhaustion, panic, confusion, until she settled on concerned.

"Bella, oh my gosh, wh-what happened? You were . . . gone, we couldn't find you, I was so worried, where were you?" She was suddenly coming across the room, sitting on my bed, followed by Rosalie, who looked at me with the same concern as Alice, but kept quiet.

"Alice, calm down, I'm fine, I just . . . needed some air, that's all, there's no need to get all worked up about this," I told her with a half-hearted smile. I decided not to answer her last question; she didn't need anything else to worry about. And for once, she didn't speak; she just sat there, staring at me, suspicion worked into her features. Slowly she broke her gaze and turned her head toward her wrist.

"We had better get going, I told the guys we would meet them for lunch soon," she spoke as if there was no worry or confusion in the first place and jumped off of my bed to get ready, but anyone could tell that something was off. Her voice was almost monotone and her words were slow, as if she was deeply contemplating something as she stared with a determined expression at her designer watch. Even if I had known Alice for only a short while, I knew her well enough to know that her interrogating me wasn't finished and she would be waiting for tonight to hear the whole story. Then something clicked in my head; we were meeting them for _lunch_? How long had I been asleep?

"It's 1:00 Bella, you've been out cold the entire day," Rosalie gave me a small smile, answering my unspoken question. No wonder Alice was concerned, I was usually a very light sleeper, I couldn't sleep in past 10 o'clock even if I was drugged.

I got ready slowly and slipped into comfy jeans and a t-shirt, much to Alice's disappointment. I was beyond tired and the only things that were keeping me from jumping back into my bed was my worried room mate, and the fact that probably everybody knows about my minor incident last night and that if they were going to believe the crappy story that I was about to feed them, then I had better drag my pitiful ass down there and at least pretend that I'm fine. I really didn't see why it was such a big deal anyway, I mean, yes, I did ditch Edw– you know who and come home really late, but it's not like I was kidnapped in my own dorm building or anything. Actually, if I didn't know any better, I would think that that was a pretty bitchy thing to do after they've been so nice to me and I've become good friends with them. But luckily, I did know better and what I did was not at all an overreaction.

Ten minutes later, we had arrived at a small restaurant not too far from campus. We talked lightly about the first day of school tomorrow and classes and teachers, until the subject turned back to my mysterious disappearance last night. I guess that it was only a matter of time before they brought that up.

"I thought that you were going to meet me at my dorm, what happened?" Edward asked, not accusingly or worried like some of the others had, but with a bit of confusion and wonder forming in his tone, like he was trying to figure me out.

"Well I was heading over to her dorm, but then I saw, I mean, well . . . I was just really tired and needed some fresh air," I didn't want to lie to him, but what was I supposed to say? 'Well the reason that I didn't show was because I saw some girl kissing you and I got really sad and jealous and stuff so I ran out of the building because I really didn't know why I was feeling this way, but then I realized that I happened to like you a _lot_, even more than I thought before and now my emotions are going crazy because I found out that you had a girlfriend when I had just discovered all of these feelings for you?' Yeah, that was a cheerful explanation. I'm sure that we'll all have a good laugh from all of that and then go back to our normal lives like nothing ever happened and Edward would break up with what's-her-face and we'll live happily ever after.

I glanced back up at Edward, his brow furrowed slightly in deep concentration, trying to decipher my words. I looked away from him, down at my hands. I wasn't really sure whether I wanted to feel more sad or angry with him right now. I felt that I had too much pride to take pity on myself anymore, though I had pitied myself more than enough last night before going to bed. But at the same time, anger just seemed too exhausting for me right now. It was like I was stuck in some kind of lifeless grey area that held no specific emotion: it was just . . . blank. I just sat quietly through lunch, nodding every so often and forcing myself to laugh with everyone when Emmett would do something stupid causing a smack to his head, courtesy of Rosalie. But I'm sure that everyone could tell how lifeless I seemed. I always just dismissed it as being tired from last night's events. It was a perfectly good excuse and most people believed it, or, at least, _pretended_ to believe it. Edward, however, couldn't take the hint and kept interrogating me about every little thing that I did and said. Now was one of the very rare moments when I could see the relation between Edward and Alice.

After about the 50th time that Edward has asked me if everything was all right, I cracked. It might have been from sleep deprivation or maybe because my subconscious had just decided to settle on being angry with him, but either way, I was becoming more and more irritated with every word he spoke to me.

"Edward I'm _fine_," I spoke slowly between clenched teeth, "Can you please stop asking me that damned _question_?" I looked at him with a lethal expression, just daring him to ask me again. Of course, he was amused by my seriousness and smirked at me with his gorgeous crooked grin. I took in a big breath about to say something to him, when I saw a person that I really didn't want to see, especially at this very moment:

"Oh Eddie! I was wondering where I would find you. I couldn't find you at the dorms and I thought for sure I would find you here," I curvy blond girl walked up to our table. You could tell that she definitely wasn't a dumb blonde; she looked like she was smart enough to be a real threat to anyone. Her silky hair cascaded down her back and the small, gold hoops and bracelets she had matched her golden eyes. Almost immediately I felt small, insignificant and invisible next to her. She looked adoringly at Edward, smiling like the Cheshire cat **(Idk if I spelling that right)** from Alice in Wonderland with a disgustingly sweet expression plastered onto her flawless face. I stared at her, knowing that she was the was with Edward last night, which dropped my confidence way down as I played with the hem of my shirt. She noticed my fidgeting and how I bit my lip and cocked a perfect eyebrow, while looking at me up and down as if to say 'so you really thought that you had a chance with him.' I felt my breath come out in a small hiss that Edward happened to hear as he was sitting right next to me.

He turned away from her to me, "Bella!" he whispered, looking shocked at my behavior. I noticed that her eyes squinted up into a small, inconspicuous glare before quickly catching herself.

"Am I interrupting something?" She asked in an all-too-innocent voice, looking down at us with wide, golden eyes. I scoffed, loudly, and rolled my eyes at her fake personality. What a frigid bitch. Here she was playing the innocent card and acting all stuck up just because she's beautiful and has the most gorgeous, sweetest guy in the whole damn world all to herself. That brought back some of my depression, but I was way too pissed off right now to pay attention to it.

"Actually Tanya," Oh, so _its_ name it _Tanya_, "I was having lunch with some of my friends and we don't have an extra chair, so maybe another time," Edward replied nicely, even though he sounded slightly annoyed that she was interrupting us.

She looked quickly at me with the same evil smile and replied coyly while batting her eyelashes, "That's a shame, but I could always just sit on your lap . . ." That was it! I wasn't going to sit here and put up with this shit! If Tanya wants to flirt and make out with Edward, then there's nothing I can do to stop it, but I was not going to stay her and have a front row seat!

I plastered on my own fake smile and said in an exact imitation of her voice "That's alright I was just leaving," I stood quickly and Edward lightly grabbed my wrist.

"What? Wait, Bella-" I shot him a glare and he dropped his hand. I know that she's his _girl_friend, but he doesn't even have the courtesy to stand up for his _best_ friend?!

"I'm tired, I had a long night, so I'm going for a walk, see you guys later." I didn't even try to put any effort into my expression, my voice was just monotone and my face was blank as well. The adrenaline that had come with my anger drove me out of the restaurant and that lactic acid that had been burning like fire in my muscles no longer mattered.

EPOV

Tanya just had to ruin everything, didn't she? Why the hell was she so insistant on being a total bitch to everyone? I snapped my head up to look at her once Bella had left, my expression lethal.

"Edward!" Alice whisper-screamed at me, "Go and frickin follow her! That is the most expression from her that I've seen all day, so she is _really_ pissed right now!" She didn't have to tell me twice.

"Wait Edward, we need to talk," Tanya touched my arm, pleading with me.

"Not now, Tanya, we'll talk later," I snapped, then brushed her off and ran after Bella. Things were getting really messed up.

The moment I got up to Bella's dorm, I started pounding on the door. "Bella! Open up, Please! It's Edward, I really have to talk to you, please!" I kept pounding on the door for about another minute before Bella wrenched it open.

"What!" Her voice was sharp, but her eyes were red and slightly wet, like she had been crying. My heart broke as I looked at her like this.

"I . . . I just . . . "

"Ugg, what is Edward? Just spit it out so that you can get back to your girlfriend!"

"What?"

"Look I'm sorry about that, but I'm just having such a crappy day and I need to be alone!"

I looked at her again and let her get the door half way closed before saying softly, "Tanya's not my girlfriend Bella." She didn't say anything and stopped closing the door so that there was just a sliver of light that could be seen from her room. "Besides," I took a deep breath, "I have my eye on someone else," ________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Ok, so how was it? I know that some of you asked for happy Bella in this chapter, but I had to do this, but I'm pretty sure that you will all love the next chapter =)**

**REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW (and the next chapter could be dedicated to you)**

************AND . . . if I have more than 10 reviews for this chapter, then I will definitely continue it, but if not, then I still might but it isn't as likely**


	8. Welcome to the Real World

**Yay! So here it is, just as I promised. Ok, I'm not exactly sure what time it is wherever you guys are, but my time is probably way behind yours considering that I live in the middle of the Pacific Ocean (in Hawaii in case you didn't put that together) so here it is about 10:40 pm and I'm sorry if it's the next day already for all of you**

_***Chapters 7 and 8 dedicated to**_**: BentGlass, Uilani96 , californiaucla, dlpash, cullenized16, Madjestic, and Pounce21 **(more reviewers names will later be edited into this chapter for dedication)

**Anyway, here is the chapter that I'm sure you all will enjoy! =)**

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_Previously-_

_BPOV_

"_I'm tired, I had a long night, so I'm going for a walk, see you guys later." I didn't even try to put any effort into my expression, my voice was just monotone and my face was blank as well. The adrenaline that had come with my anger drove me out of the restaurant and that lactic acid that had been burning like fire in my muscles no longer mattered._

_EPOV_

_I looked at her again and let her get the door half way closed before saying softly, "Tanya's not my girlfriend Bella." She didn't say anything and stopped closing the door so that there was just a sliver of light that could be seen from her room. "Besides," I took a deep breath, "I have my eye on someone else,"_

_Chapter 5- WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD_

(two weeks later)

During World War II –_**crack!**_– the German soldiers were sent to –_**crack!**_– capture the Jews and – _**crack!**_ – put them into concentration – _**crack!**_ – Camps –_**crack!**_

Clenching my teeth together, I walked steadily across the small dorm room – again – to the shiny black box that was plugged into our wall and shoved the pencil through the hole until I was aware of a too familiar, yet satisfying grinding sound. I pulled my pencil out to reveal the sharp, clean point I had made as Alice, still looking down at the books covering her bed, let out a sharp sigh, probably fighting the urge to destroy the pencil sharpener and snap all of my pencils in half.

I continued my not-very-detailed History paper on World War II, scribbling away, until the black tip of my newly sharpened pencil snapped yet again and flew across the room. From the corner of my eye, I was aware of Alice balling up her tiny hands and curling them into fists. She slowly closed her huge chemistry book and held it parallel to the floor.

"BAM!" the massive book collided with the floor, echoing through the entire room and maybe even the entire building. Even though I had seen it coming, my heart nearly jolted out of my chest and my pencil flew out of my hands. I looked up at Alice, her face wearing a severe, exasperated expression as she looked back at me. She continued to look at me for a moment before her face became almost pleading.

"Bella, look . . . I know that something's been going on with you lately, and I want to know about it _now_, you know that you can tell me anything right?" I didn't answer; instead I just stared down lamely at my thumbs and began twirling them around as I bit my lower lip.

"Ok," she spoke with more authority now, like she was trying to pry the information out of me, information that I couldn't, wouldn't share with anyone, "I know that I still don't know exactly what is going on between you and Edward, but I'm not and idiot! You two haven't talked, let alone looked at one another in the past two weeks and I know that it had something to do with that night that you disappeared on us and the next day's encounter with Tanya," Damn, she was good. I hated when Alice always had to be so observant of everything around her, it made getting away with things very difficult.

"Bella, please, I just want you to tell me what's going on. You've been drawing those weird pictures of those eyes on your notebook again and . . . I'm kind of worried about you," my gaze fell to my World War II paper and, sure enough, replacing my usual doodles of swirls and flowers, were many pairs of green eyes staring back at me from my paper. I scrubbed out the margins with my eraser and the eyes slowly disappeared.

"Alice," my voice was soft and hesitant, I didn't know if I could tell her this without having a complete meltdown, "I'm ok, I'm not depressed or anything, I'm just . . . confused . . . and upset," instead of questioning me, she listened without interrupting, "you were right; there is something going on with us, but I don't even know if _I _know exactly what's going on." Saying these words out loud was harder than I thought, but at the same time, it felt good to get them off of my chest.

"Well, that night that I ran out on you guys . . . um, well I was headed over to Rose's dorm and I saw . . . Edward . . . _with_ someone – a girl, well, actually _Tanya_," Alice's icy-blue eyes were wide but urged me to continue, "And they sort of . . . kissed and I ran, well you know the rest. So anyway, that day when we had lunch with the guys, Edward followed me to my dorm and told me that she wasn't his girlfriend and he had his eye on someone else," the last part came out quickly, but Alice managed to hear every word of it. The corners of her mouth turned up into a small smile.

"You really like him," It wasn't a question, it was a fact; every word was true.

"Alice, I don't think that you're getting the picture here. He doesn't even care about how I feel! He just walks right up to me after kissing some girl that he supposedly isn't interested in and implies that he is interested in me, then, to top it all off, he ignores me like nothing ever happened, he won't even be my friend anymore, it's like I'm invisible to him, like I don't matter to him anymore!" angry tears were welling up in my eyes, but I blinked them back, refusing them to fall and show any weakness. These past two weeks, I thought that I was just sad, but I had never realized how angry I was at him, for everything.

"Look Bella, I know that this is going to sound so cliché and I know that you don't want to think about him right now, but . . . you have to tell him, soon, or else he's just going to keep ignoring you and it'll be eating you up on the inside."

"Alice, I can't, I just-"

"No, you have to do it now or you'll never have the courage to do it again. I can see that you're sad, but I can also see the anger that you've been hiding starting to come out and you need to use that to your advantage. It will be so much easier if you just stay mad at him . . . well, only for right now of course,"

"Um, Alice, I don't know if you've noticed, but it's 10:00 at night!"

"So what? He's still up, just go before you talk yourself out of it," with that she all but kicked me out the door. I took a deep breath, focusing all of my anger toward Edward so that I wouldn't just turn back around. Soon I was running, then sprinting down the endless corridors to his room, pounding loudly on the door and pressing my ear against it to listen if anyone was there.

The door suddenly swung open and I almost fell into the room before I caught myself. Edward's green eyes stared down at me with a blank expression; this only fueled my fire.

"Come, we have to talk _now_!" I turned around and, surprisingly, he followed silently behind me. I turned the corner into another long corridor and stood facing him.

"Well," he said in a monotone voice, "what do you want to talk about?"

I couldn't take any more of his confusion so I just blurted out: "What the hell is your problem?" I glared at him, daring him to answer.

"Excuse me?" he asked, although a little more shocked than anything else.

"You heard me, I asked what the hell your problem was," before he could respond I continued, "I want an explanation, you say that the girl I saw you kissing, _Tanya_, wasn't your girlfriend, what was she then; a one night stand?" He looked appalled, but I didn't care, I had to keep going, "Then you kept lead me on about you liking me, after flirting with _her_ at the restaurant, and two seconds later you turn around and ignore me like I never existed! I used to really like you, Edward and the irritating part is that I _still_ do, even after you hurt me and forgot about me, I _still_ like you and I am tired of waiting for something to happen or for you to make up your mind. And I just wanted to let you know that I'm not going to be the one that gets my heart broken over some guy who has no regard for anyone else's feelings. I missed the old Edward, the one that used to be my friend and a gentleman, not this stranger that you are now. So from now on, just leave me alone!" hot tears were streaming down my face, but there were too many to wipe them away.

His gorgeous eyes looked full of sadness as well, but I just couldn't handle talking to him anymore so I sprinted back to my dorm. My eyes, blurry with tears and my shaking frame caused my to trip halfway to my dorm and my hands braced myself as I made contact with the floor. Still shaking, I hoisted my self up into a sitting position and leaned against the wall. I needed to just be alone, no Alice, no friends and no concerned passerby's asking me what was wrong. A large, warm hand started to rub my back soothingly in small circles as I buried my head into my hands. I had to get this all out of my system, it had been bottled up for weeks and it had all finally come pouring out.

Eventually, I ran out of tears and my breathing slowed and I tried to relax as Edward continued to rub soothing circles on my back. I heard him say: "I'm sorry," so soft that it was almost a whisper, but it surprised me how much honesty I could hear in his voice

"Why?" my voice was muffled and broke. It was a stupid question really, he had a lot of reasons to be sorry, but I still just wanted him to keep talking. The hand drawing circles on my back stopped abruptly and I could almost see the surprise on his face, then they started moving in circles and random patterns again.

"For everything," he continued, his voice still soft, "For hurting you, for acting like a jerk and for ignoring you. I know this sounds weird, but I was kind of afraid, I guess you could say."

"What?" my face was still hidden from him and my voice was still muffled although you could hear my curiosity in just that word.

He gave a soft laugh before he answered, "For something like this happening or wrecking our friendship,"

"What about when I saw you kissing Tanya?" I was being way too persistent, but I just needed to know who she was.

"Yeah, well you see, you happened to catch me at about the worst possible time. I went to high school with Tanya, we had been pretty good friends until I moved away senior year, and I was talking with her in the hallway," his tone was still very gentle and soft as if not wanting to give me any reason to get upset again, "she jumped up and kissed me, which I'm guessing is when you walked by, but I'm guessing that you also left before you could hear me tell her that I wasn't interested in her."

"Ugh, I'm sorry, I probably should have known," But really, who would have thought that he would turn down a gorgeous blond girl throwing herself at him, for me? Seriously, most guys would be perfectly happy with that, so how was I supposed to know?

"Don't be, it was an honest mistake," he pulled me into a long hug. "I know that Tanya can be just plain bitchy sometimes, but I think that she was just intimidated by you," I snorted as Edward wiped my tears away with gentle strokes of his thumb. "She tries very hard to impress me, when the only person that could catch my attention was you,"

"Thanks, you don't know how nice it is to hear you tell me that. Just in case you didn't already know, there's this guy that I've had a crush on for a while now," I gave him a coy smile, hinting to him to play along.

"Is that so?" He replied lightly, giving a me a famous crooked grin.

"Mhm, he has bronze colored hair, is pretty tall, has a great taste in music, can sometimes act like a smart-ass and has these beautiful green eyes that I can't seem to get out of my head."

"Well I also have a crush, well, it's a little more than that. She's smart, witty, stubborn as a mule, charming and beautiful, even though she is too humble and kind to notice how wonderful she really is." I felt new tears coming to my eyes, ones that made me glow with happiness. Had Edward Cullen just said these things to me? Had the guy that I had been best friends with for a little over a month just told me how wonderful he thinks I am?

I looked up into his green eyes and suddenly felt safe, like I had nothing more to worry about. He slowly leaned forward and kissed me gently on my lips. I couldn't keep the smile off of my face and thought about how much had happened in just one night, like time stood still. He helped me to my feet again and held my hand that seemed to fit perfectly in his.

"We might want to get you back to your dorm before Alice comes looking for you. Plus, I still need to introduce her to my new girlfriend," he smiled down at me, his green eyes glittering. I bet Alice will not be expecting this when I get back to my dorm, but everything else could wait right now, I was still coming back to the real world, but I was glad that I had Edward to help me through it. We walked back to my dorm swinging our hands back and forth in peaceful silence, everything feeling absolutely perfect for the first time in the past few weeks.

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**Sooo . . . I thought it was pretty good myself, but Idk what you all thought, so REVIEW and I will definitely continue this story (10 is the magic number people)**

**(This is the updated version of this chapter and so far I have 7 reviews for chapters 7 & 8 so I only need 3 more! In other words, KEEP REVIEWING)**

**Thank you for all of your time and reviews I hope to be writing more in the future =)**


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